Digital TV Switchover Delay Gathers Steam in Congress

UPDATE: House expected to complete action on the bill on Wednesday. Story here.

The Senate has voted to delay for four months the switch to digital TV meant to occur in a mere three weeks, giving President Barack Obama the national breather he sought and setting up a House vote which could occur anytime this week.

Putting off the switch may cause mass confusion, but it will also allow lawmakers to take a last stab at ensuring that a surprisingly large number of analog TV stragglers don’t wake up in 21 days to a snowstorm on every channel of their sets instead of "Regis and Kelly," "Lost," and "American Idol."

Broadcasters are dead-set against any delay, with an essentially ‘enough is enough’ position. Putting off D(igital)-Day would be confusing, what with all those PSAs running on TV advising us that it’s just about here. And then there is the small matter of what the switch is supposed to accomplish: freeing up spectrum for use by wireless companies and public safety agencies.

But even though it has been three years in the making, the end of analog television scheduled to happen on Feb. 17 has somehow caught as many as 6.5 million households off guard. While homes that receive programming via cable or dish companies need to do nothing, those who still watch TV using rabbit ears need a converter box to see anything when the switch happens.

With so many homes not ready — even if the fault is entirely their own — allowing the digital switchover to occur as planned is thought to be politically unacceptable, and Obama’s request last week that Congress delay the deadline they set back in 2005 has resonated.

And the fault isn’t entirely that of the viewing public: a government program that subsidized the purchase of a necessary converter box ran out of money during the home stretch, prompting then president-elect’s call for a suspension.

"With coupons unavailable, support and education insufficient, and the most vulnerable Americans exposed, I urge you to consider a change to the legislatively-mandated analog cutoff date," wrote John Podesta, as co-chair of the Obama-Biden transition team.

The action now moves to the House Commerce Committee, where Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif) has vowed to bring up the Senate bill up for a floor vote on Tuesday.